Star Trek: The Next Generation will be released in high-definition Blu-ray, starting in January with a sampler of several popular episodes, followed by a season-one set to be released later on in 2012, and subsequent seasons beaming down after that.

[EDIT]

CBS is, in fact, returning to the original film negatives, a mother lode of material encompassing 25,000-plus reels of footage, and editing the episodes together precisely as they were when they originally aired between 1987 and 1994. Visual effects will not be upconverted from videotape, but instead will be recompositioned. The freshly cut film will ultimately be transferred to high definition with 7.1 DTS Master Audio. And all of the work is being done in conjunction with respected, longtime Star Trek figures Denise and Michael Okuda, who are on board as consultants.

Beyond their extensive and invaluable contributions to STAR TREK: TNG and the TREKverse series which followed it (as well as a few of the films), the Okudas have authored the legendary STAR TREK ENCYCLOPEDIA and were producers on the brilliantly remastered STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES which was released on Blu-Ray a few years back.

STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION premiered 24 years ago this week...adding a special flavor to this announcement. The seasonal sets will hit next year to commemorate the series' 25th anniversary. As hard as I try, I can't believe it's been so long...

It says, "look, we're not fucking around with this. You can trust us to do this right."
Any way they can improve the terrible away mission sets from the first couple of seasons, with the plastic boulders and the glowing red skies? ;-)

The Nitpicker's Guide to Star Trek included errors that you couldn't really see on the small screen, but might be pretty obvious in HD, like computer screens that are upside-down and stuff like that.
It would be fun if they left these little details in, as Easter Eggs for people to find.

They're not doing this to the entire series? Just a few episodes?
I'm not complaining, I'm just wanting to be sure I'm understanding this correctly.
The only episode I'd want to see in HD, honestly, is 'Yesterday's Enterprise'.

Really didn't think they'd do so much work for this ol' beast. Glad to see they are, and that they went to the effort to show everyone whose been wondering what's really going on. Unless early word of mouth is awful (which I doubt), or the price is like, $250 (hope it isn't), I'll buy these new.
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Some of the comments in this talkback are funny. Its already been discussed at length, like, three times. In other words, you're late!

Dammit! I feel old. I was a freshman in high school when this show started. Hopefully they will price this like the OS so it will be affordable to buy. I remember when the DVDs for this first came out, and they were like over $100 for each season.

I think their biggest problem is going to be conversion of the starships. In those first few seasons they shot them in a unique manner that prevents them from simply converting them to HD like they iwll with the live action shots. It's a similar issue with the reason why we didn't get the Director's Star Trek Motion Picture version when they did the bluray versions of the movies. There was an article on this a year or two back about the challenge with HD Next Gen.
I wonder if they are going to digitally recreate those shots like they did for the Original Series. It would require a lot less work do replicate those shots than it would to revitalize the whole original series like they did a few years back, and would certainly freshen up the ship shots, especially in those first few seasons.

Best of Both Worlds parts I & II should have been on there. I am excited to see TNG in HD, but I wish they'd have put 5 episodes on this Preview collection instead of just 3.
If they added BoBW I and II to the 3 already announced, then I'd also have a boner with a boner like syn_flood up above.
Although, I don't want to sound like a dick, because overall I am really excited for TNG in HD. I am sure the full season sets will be pricey, but I am just going to have to get these as I've never gotten around to buying TNG on DVD. Lately I've been viewing TNG on BBC America as they are re-running the series now. It just looks like crap on BBC America's channel. I don't know if it is the way they are broadcasting it or the masters they have, or a combination of both, but on my LCD flatscreen it often looks almost like 360p Youtube quality. The colors are faded and washed out, etc... so it will really be great to see Picard and the rest of the crew's adventures remastered for HD.

I too would love to see All Good Things in hi-def, but seeing as how it's the final episode of the entire series, it probably would be inappropriate for it to be released before Season One.
But hell yeah, I want to see the Enterprise with it's third warp nacelle and Riker commanding coming to the rescue of old Picard, guns blazing. Oh yes, it will be mine.

See subject. This isn't targetted at us handful of geeks who will bittor... BUY it, this is a move to get onboard the HD gravy train, what with zillions of startup HD channels about to take off, all falling over themselves for some decent content to show without having to fork out HBO style to come up with their own

We now know that this isn't a TOS style redo with new FX. They're pulling out the old videotapes and reusing the old FX.
Sure, the actual live action stuff should look great on Bluray. The space shots will look like crap, especially if they're cropping an already low res image to 16x9.

Because I don't.
Complete series download here I come.
Don't get me wrong, I think they'll do a pretty good job. It's in HD, that's awesome. But I feel like something will be lost in the transfer.
Hopefully no added 'NOOOOOOOOOOO."
Hopefully no cut anything.

There's something about the reruns on local channels. It's fucking awesome. Ever notice how great the feel of something playing late at night on your local channel is for scifi and fantasy series, like all the old syndicated series?

probably digitally using today's best compositing tools. Thing is that re + compositing, at least in my mind means that they will be using the original photography of the models and backgrounds. This would be better than digital, because they would be using the original material shot for the TNG episodes.
At least, I hope that I am right with my assumption. CGI would have to be damn good and extremely detailed to work here. Also, didn't TOS blu-ray sets have the option to watch with the original unaltered effects footage as well as the new CGI stuff they made for the blu-ray re-release? If so, I would bet they'll do the same here.

Paramount is financing this with the huge sum of cash they just got from Netflix for selling them the rights to stream all of the Trek shows. So the project is basically paying for itself.
My understanding is the profit they turn from the sales will likely go to a similar restoration of DS9 should the demand be there.

I can put on almost ANY episode (maybe not that Riker clipshow disease finale from season 2) and enjoy it, even if its not a great episode, I adore the characters and the tone and have a lot of nostalgia attached to this show.
It was the first show I ever really followed, I think it first premiered when I was around 7 or maybe 8

In the original series remastering they took the time to fix goofs. Will they be doing this with this series? First episode, they fired a beam of energy at ... well, no spoilers, but they had this silly, sparkling thing coming out of what turned out to be the Captain's Yacht according to later official blueprints. Be nice if they fixed that, for example.

I wish there was a way to not have to rexplain this in every Trek HD thread, but here goes:
-Original Series was shot on film
-then edited on film. As in someone sat at a table with the actual film and used a razor blade and scotch tape to cut it together (spielberg actually STILL edits his movies this way)
-The special fx were all either in camera or direct optical composites done with the physical film
So to restore that to HD was easy, they simply take out the old film (which is still a higher res then 1080p) and photograph/capture each frame digitally in 1080p.
TNG, X-files and most shows from the late 80s through the 90s and even the early 2000s were not made this way. TNG was:
-Shot on film
-then the film was transfered to analog tape (likely beta masters)
-all of the editing was done in what is known as an online suite, where they editing is done from one tape to another using analog video technology
-likewise all of the space ship shots were shot on film, then transfered to video tape where the composites (composites means taking the elements that were infront of blue screen or what have you and superimposed over their intended backgrounds)
Video tape cannot be upgrade to HD, infact on dvd it looks as good as it can possibly look, and that isn't very good at all. Thats why tv shows from that era look so chincy.
But they were all originally shot on film. which CAN be upgraded just like the original series was, including all the shots of the enterprise and other ships
SO its just a matter of time and money. All of the film has to be captured to HD like with TOS, but they also have to re-edit every episode from scratch, redo all the phaser blasts, transporter beams, sound fx, etc.
And thats what they're doing. Netflix wrote them a huge cheque, which solved the only thing that held this restoration back all this time.

...I just can't bear to watch Tasha bite it in HD.
I have to stop and watch TNG every time I stumble upon it late at night. The show is just awesome, even if it did run out of a bit of steam in it's last season. I love DS though! Been watching season 7 on DVD, and although some of the Ezri Dax episodes were a bit much, overall it's been great.
And yes, the TOS HDs have the option of watching both FX versions. It's nice to have, but I've found I watch the new ones. The Enterprise simply looks gorgeous

Fans have been clamoring for a high-definition release of Star Trek: The Next Generation," Ken Ross, Executive Vice President and General Manager of CBS Entertainment, said in a statement. "Transferring the series to high-definition presented difficult technical challenges, but our team has come up with a process to create true 1080p HD masters with true HD visual effects. We can't wait to show fans how pristine the series looks and sounds with our upcoming Blu-ray releases.

The action and FX in the later DS9 episodes hold up to any movie made today. Makes you wonder why they cost $2 mill/episode and movies are $200mill a pop. Yeah inflation and all that but still. They'd look great on blu ray.

I've always wondered how they could turn out so many good 2 parters on the shows with little to no time for writing/shooting/post and yet when you hand them $80 million and a year to do essentially the same amount of screen time as a 2 parter, we got such so-so to awful stuff like the 4 TNG movies.

While you're not alone in the 'skip seasons 1 and 2' field, I personally really like them. Not my favorites obviously, but there are still amazing episodes in those seasons: Heart of Glory, Skin of Evil, Measure of a man.

There was this kid polishing a wooden dolphin (kind of looked like he was polishing something else) and he said "I like working with the wood." I almost fell on the floor I was laughing so hard. I have no idea what episode it was, just a fond memory. Also, I may have been enhanced with some substance or another, so I apologize if I remembered that totally wrong.

Don't get me wrong, I'm ALL FOR this TNG remaster, it's the most essential thing to happen for TNG fans (like myself) since the broadcast of the show itself! But some of the physical aspects of the backdrops, sets etc. are gonna look pretty dated and bland. I hope they have chance to use CGI to smooth out some of these shakey elements. I also wouldn't mind pretty much ANY changes to the original episodes as long as it's for the better. Like, say, if the pacing of a scene was originally lame as fuck, tightening it up in the edit, stuff like that.

Thanks for your comments. Do you believe it'll be 16x9, or the original 4x3? I'm excited about the possibility of seeing a true 16x9 blu-ray version. The teaser disc seems priced a little too high, but that's signature Paramount bean-counting. I hope the season boxes are lower than when the first standard def dvds hit years ago.

I'm hopeful more information will come out about what they are doing exactly with the special effects, although if they did what they did with the Original Series I wouldn't mind if they went CGI. They were very respectful and did their best to capture the feel of the original effects. I'm curious how they will deal with obvious mistakes like in Darmok where the Enterprise fires phasers out of it's torpedo tubes or the terrible scaling between the Enterprise and much smaller starships.
Bear in mind that a lot of the FX in TNG were used over and over again through the series. There were about a dozen establishing shots, maybe less, that were used several times in each episode. One shot, for instance, of the neck between the primary and secondary hull, was used almost every other episode and even used in Generations. Model work wasn't cheap. If they're going to just redo those few shots, it actually won't be that difficult to pick up the one or two original pieces of FX in an episode.
My biggest concern is how much they're going to rake Star Trek fans over the coals for these. I've already spent $135 on the individual seasons on DVD when they came out the first time, I'm going to have a harder time justifying the upgrade. Paramount really screwed fans with those releases which were not the best transfer and had almost now original special features to speak of. You would think for $135 they would have scrapped together some episode commentary or new documentaries, but the DVDs are completely lacking commentary and the 45 minutes of documentaries are basically old clips from old interviews pieced together. It's pretty sad.
I'm guessing DS9 isn't going to get the same treatment, which is really sad.

..I thought TNG was shot on video and not film. Shows how much I know. Hopefully the aspect ratio will be 16x9, but I doubt it.
I haven't seen every episode of TNG but, 'All Good Things...' might be the best television I have ever seen. Looking forward to revisiting that and the rest of this series.

if this was a real command situation. Kirk likes to grab young female butt during a crisis, whereas Picard actually solves problems like a real captain. I notice that J.J. Abrams completely disregarded Picard's style for his seriously over-emotional version.

I'm purposefully avoiding all TNG repeats on television until I can get these BD.
To contradict BB King, the 'Thrill' will never be gone, becuase it's the stiries I love and not the format, but the idea of looking on TNG anew in shiny lovely HD fills me with gooey feelings of warm niceness.

And Riker bedded more women then any other trek guy (I believe someone has actually done the math on this)
I always wondered with Riker if during the first season they had him there incase audiences didn't respond well to Picard, and they would have killed off picard and then had a more 'kirk-esque' captain riker take over.
Thankfully that never happened. Picard forever!

I'm right there with you! 6-7 times for each
except when I finally bought the dvds a couple of years ago I discovered there was ONE episode I had never seen, in the 2nd season where the badguy from lethal weapon shows up as Riker's dad.
So I got to have one last 'new' TNG episode all these years later which was a thrill.

Its hard for me to pick between 3 4 and 5, they are all pretty great. The only season I actually find fairly lacklustre is 7, although the series finale is brilliant and a rare example of a show ending with a perfect finale, but the rest of that season... I don't think its bad, just very mediocre, and subpar compared to 3-6

THE ENEMY, THE DEFECTOR, THE HUNTED (thought that episode would be about a small dog named Benji, disappointed by the lack of canine, but a solid hour of TV nonetheless!), DEJA Q, YESTERDAY'S ENTERPRISE, THE OFFSPRING, SINS OF THE FATHER, TIN MAN, CAPTAIN'S HOLIDAY (hello Vash!), THE MOST TOYS, SAREK and of course THE BEST OF BOTH FUCKING WORLDS OF TOTAL AWESOMENESS, Part 1.
And that's not to say those episodes I didn't list from Season 3 weren't otherwise great, I'm just naming my favorites.

over the past year. Some spectacular episodes, Where No One Has Gone Before, We'll Always Have Paris, Yesterday's Enterprise, Best Of Both Worlds, Family, Darmok, Chain of Command... the list goes on and on. Loved the seventh season episode with all the alternate Enterprises and alternate Riker screaming not to be sent back to the Borg-infested future. Awesome. Having said that... what the fuck was that Troi-Worf romance all about???!!!

Those characters had no chemistry whatsoever and it was a silly, last-ditch attempt at drama between them and Riker. I tend to ignore it ever taking place. Like when Beverly Crusher gave Barkley her anal cherry.

and I don't know if this bothers anyone else, but there were three models of the Enterprise used for filming TNG, the original 6 foot and 2 foot model and the 4 foot model that was introduced in the third season. The 6 foot and the 4 foot model were the two models which got the most screen time, and the 4 foot model was used when shooting most of the effects after the 3rd season.
The thing is, because there were so many reused shots of the Enterprise, both were often used in a single episode. And the difference between the two is pretty apparent. The 6 foot model was not nearly as detailed and also very very smooth, while the 4 foot model was more detailed but almost too textured. I don't know how it fits into the whole recompositing thing, but I would like to see a little bit more consistency if they are going back and re-editing the effects.

but honestly, if Netflix paid for it, it's a good move because it's the kind of thing I'd keep their 'instant' for just to see the entire show from beginning to end.
And WOW, going back and cutting original negatives? THAT...IS... FUCKING... INSANE.
Someone may have already mentioned this, but here goes... this involves, 1 - Finding all the original edge numbers on the master tapes and recording them into some kind of database so that you can match each shot back to the original negative at the correct cut points. I'm guessing they figured out some automated system for doing this. 2 - finding all of the original camera negatives. 3 - They might omit this step, but it could involve making a new work print? 4 - Splicing the original neg together (actually, this would have gone before step 3, but whatever) to make that particular episode... 5 - doing a spot check on EVERY... SINGLE... SHOT... for framing. Because depending on how they framed it for transfer to digibeta or whatever they originally edited on, the framing might not work once they have to crop for 16:9. You're most likely losing some of the top or bottom of the picture. Kubrick actually shot his films like this... he'd frame for 16:9 for theaters but then protect the tops and bottoms above those 16:9 frame lines, thereby keeping things like mics, pieces of unfinished sets, etc. out of the full 35mm frame so that the television transfers wouldn't need any panning or scanning. This is in the days of 1.33 television, of course. This would be like doing what Kubrick did but in reverse. They were first show in 4:3 and now are being narrowed down to 16:9.
Ok... so then they probably still need to color correct (since this probably would have been done on the fly back then, unless they generated color timed positives for transfer to tape for editing.) They may have just turned the negative dailies into a positive image during the tape transfer itself, something I've done myself on 35mm material to save on generating a workprint. You only ever have the negative on film and that's it.
Finally, those images are scanned at 2 or 4k... and then, I'm guessing this is when they update the effects, now that they're in an all digital environment?
Like... wow... how much did this fucking cost? As anyone who knows what this involves would be, I find it absolutely shocking and amazingly cool that a studio would invest that much time and effort into restoring a classic television show. Hopefully it pays off for... 'generations' to come... bah dum, bum, bum.

... do we have to plunk down $150 a season? Based on the DVD seasons I'd say yep.
Fucking crack smoking sales douches who think they have a premium title and an overly loyal fanbase -- which they do -- will fuck us for every red cent they can get.
Sorry sales douches, I got kids ... this'll have to wait until the price comes down.

With Star Trek TOS they didn't really have the choice to use the original model shots because they didn't have the effects film elements in good condition. The TOS elements were physically handled every time they wanted a different color planet. When they remastered TOS the only way to get clean space shots was to completely redo them, and that led to revisionism because there were so many reused shots that could be replaced with original shots.
On TNG they could originally do bluescreen composites in video editing so when they reused a stock model shot they were working with videotape of the film, and the film stayed safe in the vault and didn't get beat to hell. It's usable, unlike the model shots in TOS. So now instead of creating new 3D CGI for 7 seasons vs. TOS's 3, they can do 2D layer adjustments of the original material.

Yeah, by season 7 you could tell the show was running out of steam a little ... but like you said the finale was close to perfect. I also seriously enjoyed 'Preemptive Strike' which was the penultimate episode so it finished very strongly which was cool and deserved.

To me it was the year the whole cast became perfectly comfortable in their roles and everything fell into place ... I still remember watching 'Best Of Both Worlds' Part 1 for the first time on BBC2 (think it was a Wednesday evening?) and just being utterly blown away by the whole thing ... I only had to wait seven days for part 2 ... can't imagine how everyone across the Atlantic coped with the end of season break.

I was 13 years old, just starting summer off from school and completely ripped into pieces by STAR TREK for the first time. I grew up a TOS fan, but that one episode made me appreciate TNG in a completely new way. You're absolutely right- the cast eased into things that year. The biggest change: Patrick Stewart. He altered Picard's persona slightly and it made for a more sympathetic captain.
But yes, that summer was a TNG void, which I filled with DC comics issues of TNG and TOS and a ton of TREK novels. Man, what a great time.

'Measure of a Man' has perhaps the best Picard speech ever, during his defense of Data: "Our mission is to seek out new life - well, there he is!"
Brilliant.
I put it right behind Kirk's speech in 'Return to Tomorrow': "Risk...risk is our business!"
Still gives me chills.
Oh, and for a goof - 'Frame of Mind'. Best Riker episode ever.

I can remember I was pissed I had to wait the whole summer to see the resolution to Best of Both Worlds,
Awesome series and I can't wait for the seasons to come out. I would definatley buy the sampler if the episodes were better, but I may anyway as I loved the entire series.
THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!!!!

Its strange because looking back I don't feel like TNG was that long ago but it really is now.
My biggest regret is that they didn't try to be a bit more adventurous with the next gen movies. First Contact was very strong and while I enjoyed Insurrection and Nemesis they didn't have the scope I think they needed. I kept waiting for Q to get involved in the movies but it wasn't to be.
The sheer brilliance of 'All good things' means it will always remain my personal farewell to Picard and his crew.

I, despite being entertained in parts, never embraced the TNG films. Even FIRST CONTACT, which is a great time, doesn't stick with me nearly as much as the heights of the tv series. Maybe it's best that they didn't trot Q out again-- his last TNG appearance was perfect. But Q's last line to Picard haunts me when I think about it today- about how TNG never returned to science fiction once it left the air. When Q said the following, I was hoping for real adventures to come:
"For that one fraction of a second, you were open to options you had never considered. *That* is the exploration that awaits you. Not mapping stars and studying nebulae, but charting the unknown possibilities of existence."

Yet they cast the most Britishy actor possible!
Not that I would have prefered Jean Reno or Gerard DePardu, but I always kind of wondered why they didn't just change the name of Picard to Capt. Kensington or something like that after Stewart was cast. Hell he even has an obsession with Earl Grey tea, and shakespear.

Born in La Barre, France. Family owns a vineyard. Etc. etc. etc. Strange thing is, the guy cast to play his brother didn't have a French accent, either. That was probably done to fit better with Jean Luc, but its still strange. I want to be able to suspend my disbelief with Star Trek, though, so I just work it out in my head that maybe in the 24th century, the residents of France have taken on English accents. Or at least some of them have. *shrug*

thedigitalbits.com sez "we're told that the show's original 1.33:1 aspect ratio will be preserved (and that's what you'll get on Blu-ray), but 1.78:1 versions may be created for use in certain distribution venues".

Why? It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
"Oh but, Xen11, you don't understand, they want to gauge how it sells."
Well fuck that. Only idiots would buy it. Buy the entire series, not some random shit. Everybody would wait for the full season or series set, not a few little episodes. Only lame fucks that have more money then they know what to do with would go, "OH WOW, three episodes, I'm buying it, because I'm a fucking dumbass."
Having said that, is there anyone here who's gonna buy that shit? And why?

Another favorite. On the surface, a light story focusing on an average day for Data, including O'Brien's wedding and a diplomatic mission to the neutral zone. Below that, a finely-crafted and flawlessly executed long-term Tal Shiar infiltration of the highest levels of the Federation, making them look like the biggest chumps ever in the process. Fucking hilarious.

Call me crazy...but I am HD'd, CGI'd, and Extra Footaged out.
What I really miss is crazy local programing. The fuzzy low def, oddball programming, locally produced shows late at night that were so wonderfully bad they were genius (Movie Macabre anyone?).
Something has been lost the last 25years...besides my youth that is. TV, and even Cinema...has rapidly become a cloned, homogenized, antiseptic wasteland.

....would be a SERIOUS premature ejaculation. The reasons for the "teaser" blu-ray is to show people what they doing, get them more excited - drum up more interest (as they'll certainly be sent as a promo to every retailer likely to ever carry the new sets), and make a little bit of cash in the process. They know they aren't for everybody - that's why they don't contain the best of the best, classic episodes. For that matter, it actually makes a lot of sense to put 'Encounter at Farpoint' on the "teaser". Its the oldest episode and it ALWAYS looked a bit suspect. Seeing all bright and shiny ought to be a pretty good time (although I'll still wait for the season set).

With the DVD sets of the Star Trek series (1 season for about $110) I hope they are a bit more reasonable with the blu rays.
Sure, I enjoy the show, but there's no way I'd pay that much for a single season.

while compiling this remaster. IIRC, there were often scenes/subplots that got cut for time.
They really need to sell those initial two seasons CHEAP, though. I remember I shelled out a fortune for the Season 1 TNG DVD set (was it really $250?) when it came out and felt buyer's remorse HARD when I watched those eps and saw how shitty 90% of them were. Because of that burned feeling, I never bought the following sets.

but most were fair at best; and barely any weapons firing, to any degree. Basically they used their intellect which is fine, but not too exciting.
like the Family Guy episode SW episode 6 spoof "We're having tea,.....yes, tea !"
zzzzzzzzzzz
what we REALLY need, or at least I really want, is DS9 to be done in HD however, ONLY the Dominion War episodes put together in a Dominion War arc disc set ! That plot and especially the last 4 episodes were amazing !

The last time I was in the country (US), DS9 was still (the only ST) series not available on Netflix. I'll check again when I get back in a couple of weeks.
I do intend to watch all five listed, as soon as I can find them.

I know I read somewhere that Patrick Stewarts own 'actor motivational whatever' backstory that he came up with during the series to explain it was that his mother was very abscent from the parenting and he was primarily raised by an English Nanny his parents hired. Which does work a bit I guess.
But the idea that maybe after WW3 France was conquered by Britian or something like that is far funnier.
It always makes me laugh when Picard is suppose to be 'lapsing' into his native French, like in the one where his mother appears to him as a vision, and he tries to suddenly have this thick french accent 'oh mama'

Generally speaking I agree, anyone who would want it would want the complete seasons.
HOWEVER to play devil's advocate, if I saw it cheap somewhere I might pick it up just to see how good a job they did on the restoration before I plop down hundreds of dollars on the full seasons.
But if I do, I'm just going to watch it once, then sell it. So it would basically work out to the price of a video rental.

I also miss the thrill of taping movies off of tv, when nobody had video libraries and the only way to 'own' a movie was to wait for your local station to air it and then record it. There was something very fun about that.
I still have my taped off TV Empire Strikes back, which omits the wampa cave scene altogether, has a 30 minute behind the scenes afterwards, a 1989 Batman coca-cola commercial with Alfred, and an Eaton's (Canadian department store chain) commercial staring a 12 year old Neve Campbell in it.
Also an ad that boasts 'coming this Fall! A brand new show: ROSEANNE'

To each their own. Personally those kinds of specialty sets hold not interest for me, I prefer to have the whole series and either watch all the way through, or be able to just pick and choose which ever ones I feel like watching

Classic stuff.
And from season 5, probably the best and almost on a par with season1 of TOS.
Xen11, I've been saying the same thing for years. I almost wet my pants when I watched this next gen hi-def trailer, HOWEVER, I agree with you. People today are more wrapped up in technology then they are in actual movies or tv. They're more concerned with bits, then story lines and character.
Growing up in the 70s, staying up late to watch shows like Kolchak-The Night Stalker or Night Gallery or Ghost Story; trying to get a good picture with the rabbit ears antennae, on your beat up little black and white tele. Can't beat it man!
You are a true tele-fantasy fan.

imagine the possibilities with Picard yelling NOOOOOOO in every circumstance he is facing:
-The Borgs: Resistance is futile
-Picard: NOOOOOOO
-Data: How does it feel to be human?
-Picard: NOOOOOOO
-Worf: Sir,shields are out.
-Picard: NOOOOOOO

I'm very excited for this, it will be shifted into 19.9, someone somewhere did a video of how it could look and it was sweet, you could see way more of ten forward and it looked massive.
There are strong TNG episodes in every year, right back to season 1 and it still remains my favourite sci-fi TV show, I remember my mum renting me EAFP back in 1988 and me and my brother watched it open mouthed, there was no sci-fi TV back then and this was the single most exciting thing I could imagine.
I remember my dad saying it wasn't 1701-D but obviously B and my rising excitement when I realised he was wrong and what that meant for the shows timeline.
Plus Admiral McCoy in the pilot, too cool.

No information lost vertically, information added horizontally. Since ILM's shots for Encounter at Farpoint were always intended to double as a library of stock footage for ship flybys, ILM maybe future-proofed it by shooting widescreen. One of ILM's Farpoint shots ended up being used in the Generations feature film. The series itself is definitely not shot that way. If converted to 16x9 it would be vertically cropped the same way Seinfeld HD is. http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/inconsistencies/ent_vs_tng.htm

It's too bad more shot on film but editied on video 1980's/90's shows can't get this treatment. X-files would be on my wishlist (and realistically make a profit) for an HD upgrade. Tales from the Darkside would be another one, but that ain't ever going to happen.

This is one of the greatest TB's ever. Can we keep this going for the next year or so. My all time favorite show along with LOST and Magnum PI. Just a little personal reflection I love the Prime Directive episodes. Speciffically, Justice, Symbiosis (inadvertently at the beginning, before conforming to the Directive later on), Pen Pals, Who Watches the Watchers?,The High Ground, etc.
The episode First Contact is one of my all time favorite TNG episodes. I love it when they bring Administator Yale on the ship and the look on her face as she gazes out the window in Ten Forward and then the look on Picards face as he's watching all this. PLUS it has one of the great TNG lines:
"The things I do for Starfleet" uttered by Riker as hes about to make love to a young Bebe Neuwrith in order to escape.
Priceless stuff....

"I remember my dad saying it wasn't 1701-D but obviously B and my rising excitement when I realised he was wrong and what that meant for the shows timeline."
Thanks for that. I had forgotten that realization myself, and it was indeed an awesome feeling.
I am looking forward to the blu rays. I recorded every episode multiple times--first runs, then reruns...then I recorded some of my favorites in "SP" speed so the picture would be a little better (I can remember elaborate television hook ups including a little antenna from Radioshack that did the best job for that channel...just so I could get the best picture for recording Trek from my house in the country that couldn't get cable).
But after having all those tapes for years, I can't say I watched them much at all (after all, I watched every episode multiple times recording the damn things). Later, I intended to buy all the DVDs, but only ended up buying season 2...and then time went buy, netflix came out, and I decided to throw out most of my tapes since I could watch any episode I wanted on DVD (and often saw an episode now and then on tv). And NOW all of it is on streaming...which I have watched a couple episodes...
But in blu ray? It will be glorious. I'll have to buy them. And I'll have to watch them. It's exactly the picture quality I was dreaming about 20 years ago when I would spend 30 minutes adjusting that stupid antenna to get the best picture possible.

The best of the modern Treks fo sure!
The first season of TNG is awful. I don't know how it made it to 2nd, slighlty improved, but still saddled with that ugly set and dumb costumes. Once Roddenbarry was out, the good writers came on board, the stuff that was actually interesting became part of the show- like drama and conflict, the stuff GR hated- no more nude planets or space viruses.

I'd swear you fat, basement dwelling,sexless geeks were my ex-girlfriend by the way you glom onto something, suck the life out of it and refuse to accept the reality of the situation. Geez. Give it a freaking rest! MOVE ON. NO ONE CARES BUT YOU.

You have a point. I used to love Saturday nights as kid watching the Creature Feature on a channell out of Kansas City, it was first out of Tulsa, (8's the Place) but switched to Kansas City. Usually Hammer horror crap, loved it and the schlocky way it was presented was all part of the charm. A few years later there was a horror hostess, she stole her stuff from Elvira, "Crematia Mortem," awesome stuff!
Everything is so instant and pristine, where's the crappy video tapes and the bad reception? I'm not wishing for the days back, but I do miss the event of it all- the goofy rituals leading up to it. Everything now is instantly there...that's no fun. I don't really need Hammer horror on Blu-ray...it sort of ruins it for me.

Would have been fine if they did something different each time. The Moriarty ones were a little different I guess, just didn't dig them. I think the one the really ticked me off was the second to last episode ever actually. A friend and I made bets that a holodeck would make it before the series finale and we were right....EMERGENCE, I've seen it once and only once....awful.
Reg Barclay did some cool things with it. It would have bene interesting to see Dr Crusher use it to treat someones mental illness, trauma of some sorts....
Or use to bridge the gap between TOS and TNG.
I have read that a script was ready to be shot about Khan returning and kicking everyone's ass. At the end of the episode, DATA says, END SIMULATION, but Ricardo Montalbahn didn't want to do it.

Towards the end there I never understood why it was only used to fuck up. 40's style Detective was a nce gimmick, but why did the damn thing have to always fail?
I realize budgets and all that, but still.

Im a HUGE fan of TNG and somewhat of a fan of TOS...Ive NEVER watched a single episode of Deep Space Nine or Voyager. I have Netflix streaming so I think I have the whole library available. Would I enjoy these series? Which one the most. What I love most about TNG is the interplay between the characters, the intelligence factor that is so prominent in every episode, the humor, the fantastic science fiction writing, the strong morality tales, etc. Im not sure I would like the spinoffs. Thanks.

as cool as DS9's characters are, it takes until later for it to kick in, when the continuing story comes to the fore, for it to really grip you. Voyager, is an acquired taste, but I always end up liking stuff the bandwagon dismisses. I got hooked on it particularly once they get past Kazon space.

The cast alone is far superior. Some great character actors and some not-so-great ones (never a big fan of the guy playing Sisko), but they all have screen presence.
Similar to TNG, the show didnt really hit it's stride until Season 3. But the pilot is good - if memory serves - and there are some decent eps from the first couple years. Even the subpar eps are watchable because of the colorful eclectic cast.
DS9 all the way. Voyager had Sof9, a few decent eps, and that's about it.

DS9 is excellent, but it's a slow-build. Character-wise, it's top notch. The development of personalities and relationships is really well done. O'Brien and Bashir, Quark and Odo, Bashir and Garak, Dukat and Kira, all fantastic. Voyager wasn't terrible, but I found most of the characters to be grating, though they did become less so later on.

Great comments...youre making a VERY slow day at the office somewhat bearable. Dahveeed, thats brilliant!! mmmmmmm Kamala maybe the hottest woman in the entire Trek universe. Perfect Mate is a great episode.
I need that quote on a T-Shirt

that they could easily create multiple new AIs by simply telling to the Enterprise Computer to create virtual characters as clever as real humans.
Why stop on Moriarty? just tell the computer to make a virtual scientist as clever as einstein.bingo.you have an AI Einstein.
I mean the way that virtual Moriarty was created. was a joke.And dont tell me that the computer managed that because it tried to emulate the binary thinking computer-brain of Data.In that case,just keep telling the computer to create various,new characters based on Data.bingo.again you have new AIs.

The whole show is kind of a big commercial for casual sex.
Not that I'm complaining!
But if you think about it, all of the main characters are in their early 30s to late 40s (and picard a bit older than that) flying through space, all unmarried, sleeping with whomever. Not just Riker, but just about everyone besides Worf manages to fall into bed with all sorts of no strings attached situations.
I know part of that is just the syndicated planet of the week formula, but still it makes me chuckle.

My problem with the 1st one is that the writers or director screwed up, and Moriarty actually becomes sentient and aware of the holodeck BEFORE Geordi gives the fateful instruction to the computer that supposedly makes him so.
Moriarty sees the arch and recognizes that his 'world' is not what it seems, but its BEFORE the order is given.
As for creating multiple new AIs, what always bothered me is that the holodeck could so easily mimic human behavior, yet Data couldn't even manage to tell a joke. Wasn't there a codec or something he could have just down downloaded from the holodeck so he wouldn't have had to waste all of that time with Joe Piscepo?

When they use the holodeck to recreate the disection table that they all got abducted to. That scene is creepy as hell!
In general i think the holodeck would have benefited from a less is more approach. Always having the black grid walls present, and just being able to create some basic stage like settings, with lots of obvious 'suspend your disbelief' needed on the part of the crew.
But whatever, its all in good fun.

I understand your points but I simply LIKE the Moriarty episodes. The person who plays Moriarty and the chemistry he has with Lady whatshername in the 2nd Moriarty episode, youre really rooting for them to get off that deck. I think whats so great about TNG over TOS is the acting is so good. Look at the hundreds of subtle off the cuff conversations between Data and Geordi. The cheistry they had.
How about the quiet conversation Picard and Data have on the hill alone after Picard delivers Tasha Yar's eulogy and everyone else has left. Thats incredible writing, incredible chemistry and just fucking brilliant.
Thats WHY I wonder if DS9, as good as it might be, could possibly meeet my expectations!
That being said, Im going to watch DS9 tonight!

Something that Soong explicitly did so he wouldn't become another Lore. He only got emotions and everything that went with them much later after he had earned them, he just wasn't very good at it at first.
The computer wasn't as restrained, but also not as accurate, it was only able to approximate those things, with high precision to be sure, but nonetheless.

The cast chemistry is what makes or breaks a trek show for me, and I can look past a ton of other issues if that is really working.
But I think you will really like DS9. I can't really choose between it and TNG, its sort of like asking to choose between my brother and my best friend. Objectively speaking, DS9 is a 'better' show then TNG, but so is The Wire, and Mad men, and Lost, and a bunch of other shows, but I don't think I could ever have the attachment to them that I do to TNG (although Lost actually comes pretty close for me)

If memory serves ...
When Geordi recreates a scene from a head camera and starts removing shadows and people and is left with the shape of the invisible creature ... I swear it was one of the creepiest things I've seen on TV ...

Although Netflix currently runs some of the Star Trek series, CBS has been known in the past to pull them from rotation for months at a time. Take advantage of watching Voyager and buy DS9. Most of the posts ring true being DS9 the stronger series. I think you'll enjoy it more towards the end of season 3. Voyager's final season was worse than Enterprise. Only a handful of episodes worth mentioning.

Sigh.
I know I'm alone in a sea of testosterone hate about this, but I really like Voyager.
All I asked is that you at least watch the pilot episode. That's all. Unlike DS9, there's no major revisions in tone or slow build through seasons to sit through. You'll either like it or you won't.
I could never get into DS9, but will be giving it a second chance with some episodes hand-picked by fans here.

To me they lost their nerve with Voyager ... Having a half Federation - half Maquis crew could have created great tension and conflict but everyone became good pals too easily and it drifted along never trying to be different.
In the end it felt like they were dragging the Borg out of storage nearly every other week just to keep the damn thing interesting ...

Instead of racing home, the crew decides "We're screwed anyway, so let's do some exploring and make this a really valuable mission for Starfleet. All ships logs would reach Starfleet Command eventually and in the meantime the crew would learn more about an unknown sector of the galaxy than since the original United Earth Space Probe Agency set out to the systems near Earth. And then, through making the hard decision, Voyager would discover advances in technology that would not only get it home but would help the Federation defeat the Dominion and any other foes. The End.

My thing, as I've mentioned here several times, is that if they were going to take them home, the Paramount brass should have been bold enough to do it more quickly. Bring them home in the third or fourth season and allow Voyager to be tied-in with DS9 and The Next Generation. Let it live or die in that world, instead of dragging their return out to the VERY LAST EPISODE, which always felt cheesey to me.
<p>
Yack, its funny you mention that, because that's actually what Riker and the USS Titan are doing (in the books) now that the Borg have finally been wiped out. They're using the new slipstream drive (first used on Ezri Dax's ship, the Aventine) to explore the farthest, unreached regions of known space.

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate Voyager, but enjoyed DS9 more. Some of Bryan Fuller's Voyager scripts are good. "Living Witness", "Spirit Folk", and "Fury" are the ones that come to mind, however, I liked DS9 better. I'd like to see the blu-rays for it. Effects were better, etc.

Actually, not quite. It's been years and years since I've seen them so I'm rewatching them on Netflix to determine which episodes on future sets I can't live without.
If they really do a hardcore overhaul of the effects and space / ship scenes ala TOS, then I'd probably get all of them. Otherwise I've seen them all too many times to justify that kind of money.
Nobody kid yourselves. Get ready to bend over for the price.

Yes! I forgot about that one, that is also a really good use of the holodeck
thats also the episode (and scene) with the weird frame rate, where it almost looks like it was shot in Britian in the PAL system, and then converted to NTSC, because it looks the way all the BBC imports look
Its just that one episode, and just the scenes on that set (both the real planet and the holodeck recreation) I'm not sure if its due to something involved with the FX for that sequence (maybe because of all the rewinding, slowing down, etc) or if they were experimenting with shooting on just video instead of film or what.
As a film/video production guy though I would love to know the story behind that though

I've seen most of Voyager so I feel I gave it a fair shake, but I really don't care for it. My main reason being I don't like any of the characters. Which is not to say that some of the cast weren't cool (picardo especially) but they were just given (in my opinion) so little to work with.
I also tend to believe that the new BSG is more a remake of Voyager based on what Ron Moore would have liked to have done with that show, then it is of the original battlestar galactica.
Here's a really (long but) great article a friend put me on to that I think any Trek fan would get a kick out of
(Note: unfortunately each part DOES NOT link to the next article)
Part 1: http://www.mania.com/star-trek-profile-fanwriterproducer-ronald-d-moore_article_18708.html
Part 2: http://www.mania.com/star-trek-ronald-d-moore-part-ii_article_18741.html
Part 3: http://www.mania.com/star-trek-ronald-d-moore-part-iii_article_18843.html
Part 4: http://www.mania.com/star-trek-ronald-d-moore-part-iv_article_18860.html
Part 5: http://www.mania.com/star-trek-ronald-d-moore-part-v_article_18949.html
Part 6: http://www.mania.com/star-trek-ronald-d-moore-part-vi_article_18971.html
Part 7: http://www.mania.com/star-trek-ronald-d-moore-part-vii_article_18998.html

The often used punchline in a couple interviews I've heard him say was that he wanted to seem fearless and impress the producers so jumped right into the gunk with no complaints. and after they had launched him out, and yelled cut Levar Burton knelt beside him and just looked at him like he was crazy and said 'Frakes... I NEVER would have done that'

I'm hoping they port over all the great interview material from the dvds.
I'd also love a documentary on the restoration process itself more just coming from my own technical background that kind of stuff interests me, but then again might be boring to most people.
And for me, with TNG I'm not too concerned with how the FX were done or anything like that. The Cast and writers are what made the show work for me, so as many new and old interviews they can pile on, the better in my opinion.
I know episode commentaries are probably unlikely, but it would be amazing to get the whole main cast together in one room just for even ONE or TWO episodes. Maybe get them just to do Encounter at Farpoint, or 'all good things...' or both.

A cast commentary would be fantastic.
In fact, if anyone important in lurking here, I beg this of you: Pick one episode from each season, and then have the cast get together to comment throughout each one.
Gives us seven cast commentaries on seven great episodes over seven years. That alone would convince me that I had to buy the sets.

Glad to see some love for DS9, it's vastly superior to TNG, which I like, but not nearly as much.
DS9 took daring journeys. Dark journeys. It was much more emotionally complex and adult than TNG. It seeemed like since a lot of fans, stupidly, ignored the series, they weren't boxed in by Roddenbarry's strict rules and could do what they wanted. And they did. All that conflict, a great recurring villian in Gul Dukat, the traitor, Eddington, the parallel universe...
A deeply mature and satisfying series and that it sickens me it didn't get its due or series of movies.
Sisko was always an odd duck. A decent guy, but you never knew exactly what he was thinking which was always great. He was definitely a flawed guy and was not the perfect shining example like Janeway. A two parter when he chases a former ensign, Eddington who turns out to be part of the Marquis, is awesome. He gets obsessive, very much like Khan.
SPOILERS------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Garak is my favorite, the only Cardassian I want to keep with it is the equivalent to a former Nazi. He has great chemistry with Dr. Bashir and later Odo. A cheeky guy with plenty of secrets and I love how when we meet the guy he appears like some lonely old man without a purpose, but as the seasons go on and the war escalates, he gets sucked back into doing what he does best. He always kept up a mysterious front, "Why tell the truth when a lie will do," is how his father explained him.
You knew he was guilty of something because he smiled all the time, just didn’t know what. He constantly tells everyone “I’m just a simple tailor…” He always stressed how he didn't believe in the truth as there was no such thing.
In the best episode of season six, “In the Pale Moonlight,” it all culminates in one DS9’s finest moments when Sisko asks him to do something he doesn’t have the will to do. He wants the Romulans to ally with the Federation against the Dominion, but they have no reason to. So, Sisko theorizes a political assignation will do the job; Garak uses some old tricks and does the Romulan senator in making it look like the Dominion did it thus causing the Romulans to join with the Federation.
Sisko of course is regretful and sick with himself, he gets indignant and but Garak argues, to Sisko that the Alpha Quadrant has been saved at the small cost of "the life of one Romulan senator, one criminal, and the self-respect of one Starfleet officer", which, considering all circumstances, is "a bargain." Sisko is also sick that Garak was exactly right. Brooks performance here is flawless as he shows disgust with himself and his actions, but knows its for the greater good…
THE SINGE BEST DS9 EPISODE EVER IS….THE VISITOR! This is the one that won a ton of awards, Saturn, nominated for an Emmy I believe, a beautiful, fantastic performances especially by guest star Tony Todd and the kid, Jake, played by Cirroc Lofton is excellent.
Worf was much more interesting on here especially when he hooks up with Judzia.
The series had a few lame episodes, but I don’t ever recall any being totally unwatchable, maybe a few Bajorian religious crap shows or the one with Luxanna Troi that was weak, but most were solid…about 10 great, five brilliant every season.
Avoid Voyager because it will only frustrate you.

Already mentioned the wanted appearance of Ricardo Montalbahn as Khan, but he refused...
Also, Roger Carmel was scheduled to make an appearance as Harry Mudd. A script was writen, but before production began, he died.

I agree its a shame we never got to have a TNG episode of this.
To be fair though, it isn't as 'no-brainer' to do one as it seems in hindsight.
When TNG was on, it was the main flagship of Trek, with the only other Trek being TOS and its subsequent movies. the mirror universe was just one of many episodes TOS did, and we could just as easily say 'why did they never revisit the city on the edge of forever planet on TNG' or 'what about those half black half white dudes' etc
But DS9 choose to revisit the mirror universe in a big way which is what really made it such a bigger part of the trek canon, and then enterprise also had that great 2 parter.
But don't get me wrong, I would love to see picard et al face off against an evil picard, goatee Data and whatnot.

I strongly disliked it ... I really did.
I admired and respected some of the acting and the characters had depth but I fucking hated Avery Brooks which was always going to be a massive barrier to get over ...
The first few seasons were just depressing to me ... being on a static space station seemed to go against everything that was great about Trek ... and by the time the show really got interesting it was because they did EVERYTHING they could to move away from its original concept ...
Give them the Defiant so they can get off the bloody Station every chance they get and lets give them a full-on Galactic WAR to fight because life on the station is JUST that dull.
I KNOW I am in the minority with my hatred for DS9 and its something that may fade with time (I'm planning on rewatching the entire run next year) ... but there you go.

The entire interior of the holodeck is essentially lined in forcefields with replicated matter and holographic images covering them up, IIRC.
The fields along the floor essentially act like an omni-directional treadmill so that you more or less stay in the same area.
(though there are examples of smaller environments allowing them to reach the actual holodeck walls through the illusion, IIRC)

tallboy6t6 and lv_426, you both seemed confused why they didn't pick "Best of Both Worlds" pts 1 and 2 or "Yesterday's Enterprise" or "All Good Things..." for the initial sampler release.
I have two guesses why:
(1) When they were remastering ST:TOS, they started out with episodes that were light on special effects and waited until later to take on episodes with lots of effects like "The Doomsday Machine" or "The Ultimate Computer" because they wanted to give themselves a chance to get good at what they were doing before tackling the difficult episodes.
They're PROBABLY doing the same thing here. "Encounter at Farpoint", "Sins of the Father" and "The Inner Light" do have effects, of course, but NOTHING like the battles and massive numbers of effects in the episodes you guys mentioned.
(2) The episodes you mentioned are some of the best and most popular episodes in the entire series. (I know that "Inner Light" is considered one of the best, if not THE best.) But if they released all the best episodes in one release, there could be a lot of people who wouldn't bother to buy the season sets.
In other words, why blow your load too soon???
And you're welcome. Always glad to answer your questions and concerns. ;-)

...array thing, and bypass the bipolar matter/antimatter conduit to collect it's neutrino plasma, we could actually polish a turd!
...Make it so!
[Sips tea while reading Shakespeare on an English saddle, as any true French captain would do...]